Author: doug

Big snake in the road

This critter appeared today, crossing our sometimes-very-busy street. When I stomped my foot behind him to encourage him to move, he instead raised his head like a cobra. But then he resumed his way across the street and into the ditch. I stood guard in case yet another delivery truck came along for the mini-market next door.

It’s called Culebra de Peñarol, because that futbol team’s colors are black and yellow.

Its scientific name is Liophis poecilogyrus sublineatus. It grows to about 70 cm in length, and this one was about that. It lives in every departamento in Uruguay, and is not endangered in any way, though this individual was for a couple of minutes.

Is it poisonous? you ask. I don´t know. Maybe we should eat one to find out? Oh, you mean venemous? It is not listed as one of the four dangerous species of snakes in Uruguay. However, I did run across an account of someone who got bitten by one.

You can read about the incident here if you care.

TL;DR: you probably don’t want to get bitten by one.

Armature balancing and worm gear

I got back to the circular saw tear down which left off with a worm gear assembly that I couldn’t get apart. A couple weeks later I remember it, try again and it slides out like it’s greased. Because it is.

It turns out the worm gear reduces the rotation speed by a factor of six, meaning the motor itself was spinning at 27,000 RPM. Yikes!

That solved, another question remains: what are all the little indents in the armature for?

UPDATE: I posted this question on ElectricalEngineering on Reddit, speculating they had to do with balancing. Yes, I learned, they are balancing cuts. The post has been viewed over 1,300 time in 24 hours.

Circular saw dissection

Cutting up 2×6″ jungle hardwood proved too much for the used German circular saw I bought twelve years ago for USD 40 (I’ve gotten my money’s worth ;-). I thought it needed new brushes, but no, I fried the armature. Quite interesting taking it apart; some simple and some very tricky. I’m still working on the worm gear assembly. Why does it have one?

The repair shop sold me a Skil that they refurbished. 1400 watts versus 1200 on this one; 5,700 RPM versus 4,500. The thing is a BEAST!

Tero babies

I spent an hour and a half in the park yesterday watering thirsty young trees. And yet today I see for the first time that the teros have two babies – checking out the main path that crosses from one side to the other. We stopped here, before mama and papa decided to make a fuss!

Dead possum-how?

A dead comedreja (possum) in an area on the side of the house fenced against dog entrance, except that Bandido the Shi Tzuh gets in through an opening I left for the cat (now long gone). The compost bins are on the other side of the fence, so what this one was doing here is a mystery, as is, once again, how it died. I don’t think the little dog would have done it in.